Dana Bakdounis and Uprising of Women in the Arab World

With the words "I'm with the uprising of women in the Arab world..." hundreds of people have been flooding a Facebook page with pictures of themselves holding up a sign that states WHY they support the uprising of women in the Arab world.

Like hundreds of young women and men all across the Arab world and beyond, Dana Bakdounis, posted her photo to the online campaign, The Uprising of Women in the Arab World's Facebook page. Holding her passport and a hand-written message along with a defying stare on her unveiled face, she boldly states: "I'm with the uprising of women in the Arab world because for 20 years I was not allowed to feel wind in my hair and body." But on the morning of October 26, 2012, Facebook removed Dana's photo, and blocked the administrator of the Facebook page who posted the photo from posting anything for 24 hours. The picture was taken down by Facebook because the social network had received complaints. The photo was allegedly reported as being "insulting."

The administrators of the Facebook group posted this message after Facebook deleted the photo:

"Uprisers,
male and female, what do you expect the gift is the gift to you from
the extremists, infidelators, the ignorant and facebook? this morning
the picture of dana bakdounis was wiped off from the page by facebook on
the claim that it infringes on public decency!! dana who took off the
veil forced on her and took a picture of herself without it!! Since when
has the freedom of choice become an infringement on public decency and
religions when all legal codes affirm that being convinced comes before
belief, and that all legal codes and religions cannot be enforced by
threats, repression, ignorance making and infidelation.

This page
has never interfered in the belief of any of you and we also have many
veiled and face-veiled who have also participated and were welcomed.
they themselves refuse this kind of malicious maneuver.

We will
continue on this uprising of ours. Dana Bakdounis and other women will
continue to live free despite those haters of women and haters of
freedom.

May your morning be an uprising, so uprise and like us
support dana this morning, and expose this malicious attempt from your
haters and the haters of your uprising.Share this status or support dana in your own way

A photo of Fatma, in support of Dana Bakdounis posted to the "Uprising of Women in the Arab World" Facebook page.

The Twitter hashtag #WindtoDana was created to support Dana Bakdounis's right to express herself about removing her hijab (the arabic word for the veil or head-scarf worn by Muslim women) Here is a sample of the tweets:

An online protest was launched to "make noise" about the censorship of Dana's picture.

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On November 7th, The Uprising of Women in the Arab World admins issued a press release after 5 admins logged into their
Facebook accounts "to find out that one’s account has been blocked for 30 days,
another for 3 days, 2 others for 24 hours, and 1 other received a
warning notification.According to Facebook, those persons had violated its policy by
sharing a post asking for supporting Dana Bakdounes on Twitter. The
message that was sent to the admins as the reasoning for the ban from
Facebook was: “You have posted a content that violates Facebook
Community Rules, the post says: Follow us on Twitter @UprisingOFWomen.
Support Dana with hashtag #WindToDana”

In an article posted by the dailydot.com on November 8, a Facebook spokesperson commented on the banning of Dana Bakdounis's photo by saying: "Facebook has responded to two reports concerning this page – both relating to posted items [...] In one instance a photograph was removed in error, but later reinstated. The person who posted it was informed and their temporary block lifted. In the second instance an item was removed because it was reported to us and found to have violated our community standards."

The dailydot.com article also states: "The spokesman also noted that high-profile pages and campaigns inevitably receive more attention, and it's more likely posts which violate the rules will be flagged."

Sally DabbourI only support Dana because I am a firm believer of FREEDOM.. GOD created us with brains to think.. NO ONE has the right to force religion on someone the Holy...I only support Dana because I am a firm believer of FREEDOM.. GOD created us with brains to think.. NO ONE has the right to force religion on someone the Holy Quraan says : LA EKRAH FEL DEEN ... Dear Dana and other enraged spirits out there.. the real culprit here is ourselves.. our dehumanising culture.. BE aware.. BE free... spirit and body :) - A vieled woman by choice.more2012-10-30T19:23:04.821Z

Javeriya Sayeed Siddiquithis is really sad. sad to see how ignorant muslims have become to their religion. Instead of posting up pics and rising AGAINST wearing a veil one should...this is really sad. sad to see how ignorant muslims have become to their religion. Instead of posting up pics and rising AGAINST wearing a veil one should understand its importance and its position that it holds. Our fight should be for equality in society and we should be asking for getting treated in society and business sectors just like any other non muslim woman. Thats what we should be fighting for, when a veiled woman is refused a job because she covers! Take pride in your veil women, its a blessing! more2012-10-28T13:09:54.860Z